City, Sladies in rugby showdown

LAST season Mackay City got within seconds of victory in the grand final only to see Brothers take the glory.

They are not prepared to let that happen this year.

The Foundation Cup has been competed for since 1977 and is the measure of superiority in Mackay rugby.

Although the names of Mackay City and Slade Point has been inscribed on the trophy many times over the years, both clubs are keen to be on the trophy again after tonight's match.

Slade Point go into the contest as a slight favourite having beaten City on each of three occasions during the regular season.

However, that will mean little as City had the best of the semi-final meeting two weeks ago and thereby gaining an extra week off to prepare.

For Sladies captain Andrew Schy it is his first rugby union grand final having appeared in finals in the other rugby code.

Schy, a second-rower, said all the pre-match talk is about Sla- dies forward strength but that is not a balanced view of his side.

''You can't win with forwards alone, we have some very good inside-backs,'' he said.

Schy admits tonight's game will be very physical but points out the majority of Sladies' points do come through its back-line.

He's not too worried about that defeat of a couple of weeks ago either.

''It was an off day, we haven't had many,'' he said.

''We look on it as a Godsend as it has given many of the boys a wake-up call.''

Mackay City captain Colin Taylor has been there and done that on grand final day, having tasted both victory and defeat.

''It will be tight as they do have a very good forward pack but we enjoy running and have a more open style and are more mobile,'' he said.

Taylor sees the return of Nathan Price as the key to a City victory.

''He is really special, he's been unlucky not to be a Queens land Country regular.''

Mackay Rugby Union coaching director Martin Gilham said City controlled set-play on semi-final day with Josh Grant dominant at lineouts and some excellent driving 'go-forward' play from Colin Taylor, Scott Seccombe and Ivan Franettovich which unsettled the Slade Point composure.

However, Gilham is not predicting a repeat performance. ''Slade Point is blessed with talented, open field ball runners and given the opportunity will relish any situation that enables them to open up the park,'' he said.

One area of the game that both teams will be working hard to dominate is the breakdown.

Often a topic of much discussion in after-match debate between players and referees this area has opened up more cans of worms than Rex Hunt.

To that end grand final referee, Simon Scoble will be keen to ensure that this critical area is properly policed, Gilham said.